Mail-marking machine



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

E N I m HA M AG Wm .K m M L I A M (No Model.)

Patented Feb. 22 1898.

(No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet 2.

H. E. WAITE.

MAIL MARKING MACHINE.

No. 599,463. Patented Feb. 22, 1898.

[IE-.2 4 10' W6 IHI Ill III [II lillll aw i? UNITED STATES PATENT EEicE.

HENRY E. WVAITE, OF NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

MAIL-MARKING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 599,463, dated February 22, 1898.

Application filed January 30, 1897. Serial NO 621,266. (N 11105.91)

To all whom it nuty/ concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY E. WAITE, of Newton, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mail-Marking Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to mail-marking machines in which the letters are moved endwise one at a time between a printing and an impression cylinder and are delivered therefrom to a table, on which they are packed or assembled in a compact mass side by side.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple and effective machine to which the letters may be fed at irregular intervals and in which the letters will be passed between the rollers automatically and at the proper intervals to receive the impression from the printing-cylinder, after which they may be properly packed by a packing device located at the delivery end of the table; and hence the invention consists of a machine equipped with those features of improvement which are illustrated in the drawings and which I shall now proceed to describe in detail and then point out in the claims hereto annexed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings,and to the letters and figures marked thereon, forming a part of this specification, the same letters and figures designating the same parts or features, as the case maybe, wherever they occur.

Of the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a mail-markin g machine equipped with my improvements, and Fig. 1 shows the flexible time feed devices. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the gearing located beneath the table for driving the operative parts of the machine. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the said gearing. Fig. 4 is a section on line 4 4 of Fig. 1, so as to show the feeding-disks and the automatic flexible stop for the letters. Fig. 5 shows a modified form of feeding-disks. Fig. 6 is a section through the impression-cylinder and showing the elastic non-absorbent pad secured thereto. Fig. 7 shows in perspective the packer.

. In the drawings, a represents the table.

Y) represents the horizontally-moving belt or conveyor which feeds the letters endwise from the trough, having the inclined side walls 0 c, said belt being driven by a pulley b and another pulley, (not shown,) the axes of which are horizontal. The table CtlS substantially flush with the upper stretch of the carrier, so as to receive the letters therefrom, there being a guide 0 which is curved to form a continuation of the wall 0 of the trough and which is substantially vertical from the feed-cylinders to a point beyond the packer, from whence it extends at a right angle forward, as at 0 Pivoted on either side of the trough, so as to project into the same, are two guide-levers cl d, which have their ends abutting against each other, so as to forma V in the path of the letters. (Shown in Fig. 1.) The lever d is held forward by a spring d while it and the lever d are vibrated across the path of the letters by mechanism to be described, there being likewise in the path of the letters a flexible stop, which provides for the letters being fed through to the printing and impression cylinders at proper intervals, although the said letters are faced at irregular intervals into the \/-shaped trough or hopper.

e indicates the main driving-shaft, (shown in Figs. 2 and 3,) which is located beneath the table and from which power is transmitted to the various movable parts of the machine. It

is provided with a bevel-wheel e, intermeshing with a similar bevel-wheel e on a vertical shaft 6 which shaft is provided at its upper end with a heart-shaped cam f. The vibrating lever d is provided with the cam-surface d with which the cam f may engage to vibrate the levers d d once for each revolution of the said shaft 6 the spring 01 returning the levers to their original position, as the projecting portion of the cam allows the levers to swing back. The flexible stop consists of an arm g, mounted loosely on the shaft 2 and held by a spring 9 so as to project across the path of the letters and just beyond the ends of the levers d d. The spring g is sufficiently strong to prevent a heavy letter, carried along by the belt I), from swinging the arm 9 out of its path when the ends of the levers d d are nearest to the shaft 6 but when the cam f 100 has reached the position shown in Fig. 1, at which it has forced the ends of the levers cl (1 toward the guide 0 the leverage which each letter exerts at this time against the said stop under the impulse of the feeding-disks (to be described) is sufficient to force it out of the path thereof and allow the said letter to be carried on farther by the feed-rolls. Thus it will be seen that I provide a stop which is intermittingly rendered flexible to allow the passage of a letter only when the parts are in the proper position to receive it. After the letter leaves the converging guiding-levers and the stop it is grasped by the intermediate feeding-rolls and fed forward to the printing and impression rolls and is finally packed, with the letters that have gone before, in a compact mass.

h is a vertical shaft which is provided with a bevel-gearing h, (shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2,) driven by intermediate gearing 77, h from the main driving-shaft 6. Upon the shaft h is pivoted a yoke 2', in which are journaled the shafts and 7c of the impression-roll and one set of feeding-disks, respectively together with shafts for several other rolls, to be described.

The impression-cylinder] is mounted in the shaft j and coacts with the printing-cylinder Z on a shaft Z, mounted in stationary hearings on the side of the guide 0 opposite the impression-cylinder.

The shaft j is driven by a gear-wheel 77, on the shaft h and intermeshing with the gearwheel 9' on the said shaft The shaft Z is driven by suitable gearing Z Z from the main driving-shaft e and has a bevel-wheel Z driving the bevel-wheel b on the shaft of the pulley b, which actuates the belt or conveyer.

The printing-cylinder is provided with a suitable die I, which may be removed for the purpose of substituting another one. The said impression-cylinder, which bears yieldingly against the printing-cylinder, is formed of any suitable material, as steel, and is provided with an elastic non-absorbent pad 7' secured upon a block 3' held in the cylinder by a pin j. The die and the pad are so arranged upon their respective cylinders that as the latter rotate the die will register with the pad, so that in case no letter is passing between the cylinders the die will press against the pad. The pad is formed of any suitable material that will repel and not take the ink which is delivered to the die by the idler inkroll m. Said ink-roll m is mounted in an arm m, pivoted at m to the table, and is held against the printing-cylinderby a spring m Suitably journaled in arms 2" in the yoke i is the wiping-roll n, formed of absorbent material, to wipe from the non-absorbent pad any spray of ink that may become lodged thereon,and'also an absorbent roll o,which impin ges against the wiper n and which is filled with turpentine or other like substance which will absorb or kill the effect of any ink taken up by said wiper n. The rolls n and 0 are mounted loosely in the arms t" and are rotated by their frictional engagement with each other and with the impression-cylinder and are provided with adjustments to compensate for wear, and they, like the inkingroll, are easily removable.

Between the printing and impression cylinders and the vibrating guiding-levers I place two coacting feeding-rolls, and for the purpose of carrying the letters past the flexible stop at the proper moment are two sets of coactin g feeding -disks, of which disks each is provided with a flexible gripping-finger to coact with a similar finger on the opposite disk. The gripping-disks p 19 and p p are mounted on the shafts k and c respectively, and they rotate in opposite directions,

so as to feed the letters forward positively into the feeding-rolls. Each disk 19 p is slabbed off and is provided with a springfinger, consisting of a fiat spring 19 held against too great outward movement by a stop 19 and having on its outer end a projec tion 19 The said projection 19 is at a distance from the center of the disk slightly greater than the radius of the disk, so that as the two sets of disks rotate the projections p coact in gripping the letter yieldingly to feed it positivelyforward past the stop and the flexible guides to the feeding-rolls, the disks being so far apart that at no other time can they give any impulse to letters in the guiding-levers.

The shaft is driven by an idler-wheel n, mounted on a shaft journaled in the arms 2', and a gear-wheel It on the shaft 70, intermeshing therewith. The gearing is so arranged that the shafts k and e are rotated at precisely the same rate of speed.

The intermediate feed-rolls q and g, which are formed of yielding material, such as rubher, are mounted on shafts g and (1 respectively, and are arranged between the feedingdisks and the printing and impression cylinders. in arms or brackets projecting out from the yoke 11 and is driven by the intermeshing pinions g g, the latter being in engagement with the gear-wheel 3' The shaft g of the roll q is journaled in a lever g pivoted upon the shaft 6 there being a spring g attached to the end of the lever and to the table for holding the roll q forward, so as to engage with the roll q, a stop (1 being provided to limit the movement'of the lever, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 1. The roll (1 is cut away, as shown in Fig. 1, so as to form acorner which grips or bites the letter at the moment when it enters between the two rolls.

Now it will be seen that the impressioncylinder j, the feeding-roll q, and the feeding-disks p p on shaft 76 all have their shafts journaled in the swinging yoke i, so that they can be moved bodily toward and from the printing-cylinder Z, the feeding-roll q, and the feeding-disks p on shaft e which latter all have their shafts journaled in the stationary frame, the yoke being held so as to cause the impression-cylinder and roll and disk on one side to impinge against the printingcylinder and roll and disk on the other side The shaft (1 of the roll q is mounted.

of the letter-path by a spring 9", having one end attached to the end of the yoke and the other end attached to the frame of the machine. This is to allow for variation in the thickness of letters.

After the letters have been fed through the mechanism just described, and the operation of which will be hereinafter set forth, they are guided by the guide 0 to the packer, which consists of a disk with a depending rim, (shown in plan view in Fig. 1,) and which is designated 8. The disk is mounted upon a shaft 5, journaled in a suitable bracket 8 and driven by a gear-wheel h on the shaft h, and an intermeshing gear-wheel s on the said shaft 5. The shaft 5' is arranged relatively to the guide 0 as shown in Fig. 1, which guide is formed with a straight portion 2, the oblique portion 3, and the portion 0 which, as before stated, is at right angles to the straight portion 2. The disk is arranged to project through a slot in the guide and has a recess comprising the two sides 4 and 5, which are relatively arranged, so that at times the side 4. will coincide with the straight portion 2 of the guide, while the side 5 will project through the guide and across the path of the letter and hold said pack away from said straight portion of the guide sufficiently to form a recess at one end of the letter-path, into which the letters are projeoted by the impulse of the 'printingcylinders. By forming the disk with the depending rim I am enabled to provide sufficient surface to pack the letters and secure the necessary friction for that purpose. The disk is also formed with an interior bearing sleeve 5 to afford a long bearing-surface and is weighted at s to oifset the loss of weight caused by forming the recess.

The packer is continuously rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow marked thereon, its rotation being timed so that it is in the position shown in Fig. 1 when every letter is advanced from the printing and impression cylinders. The segmental portion of the periphery of the disk 8 bears against the pack of letters excepting during the brief interval when the disk is rotating to bring the sides 5 across the letter-path, as shown in Fig. 1.

The portion 0 of the guide which is at right angles to the portion 2 constitutes an abutment to arrest the letters and permit their being formed in a pack by the disk. I also employ an adjustable abutment 0 so that when short envelops or letters are being treated this abutment maybe placed in such position that it will arrest the ends of short letters when the central portions of the letters are arranged to bear centrally from shaft 5 upon the periphery of the disk .9. When longer letters are being treated, the abutment c,which is provided with dowe1-pins,by which it may be detachably secured to the table, maybe removed, thereby allowing the packer to press against the center of the letters in the transverse vertical plane through the shaft .5", so that the strain of the pack of letters is against the shaft, there being asliding abutment or block 0 resting on the table and serving to maintain the letters upright as they are being packed.

The operation of the machine is as follows: The letters are placed or faced at irregular intervals into the V shaped trough or hopper, and the moving bottom belt or conveyer b conveys them in the direction of the printing-rolls. Each letter is carried by the belt into the \l-shaped space between the 0011- verging levers d cl and is thus prevented from rebounding, being held against further movement by the flexible stop until the cam f has moved the levers into their nearest position to the guide 0 at which time the leverage of the letter under the impulse of the flexible grippers on the feeding-disks is sufficient to swing back the stop. Thus the letter is projected between the two intermediate feed-rolls, and they grasp it and feed it positively forward to the printing and impression cylinders, which properly cancel the stamp or place the proper impression upon the envelop and then project it forward to the action of the packer-disk s, which, as before stated, engages the letters one by one and forms them into a pack, as shown in Fig. 1.

It will be understood that I do notlimit myself to the details of construction herein shown and described,as various modifications may be employed without changing the spirit and scope of my invention. For instance, instead of employing the spring-fingers consisting of the spring-strip p and the projections 19 the feed-disks may be each provided with a pivoted finger p mounted in a recess in the periphery and held forward by a spiral spring 19 placed around the pin p projecting from the end of the finger into a slot in the disk.

One important feature of my invention is the arrangement of the feeding-disks, the vibrating guide-levers, and the flexible stop. These parts are so timed that when the printing and impression cylinders are operating to cancel the stamp upon a letter the throatway between the feeding-disks p and p is closed by reason of the levers d d being shifted to one side, as shown in Fig. 1, so that the following letter will strike against the flexible stop near its pivot. The flexible grippers on the feeding-disks p and p are also separated at this time, so that they cannot exert any gripping action on a letter, and hence it is impossible for a letter to pass the stop; but when the cam f has shifted the vibrating levers to bring the point of the V near the end of the stop, so that the letter may exert the greatest leverage, the flexible grippers grasp the letter momentarily to impel it past the stop and release it after it enters between the intermediate feed-rollers, which latter grasp it and force it forward to the printing and impression cylinders. Thus only for asingle instant for each rotation of the printing-cylinder is it possible for a letter to be fed forward by the parts which may be said to constitute an automatic flexible timing-feed. At this instant the letter, while fed forward positively by the flexible grippers of the disks, is held between flexible devices, all of which are arranged to permit of the safe passage of letters of different sizes, shapes, and thicknesses.

By the employment of the intermediate feed-rolls and the independently-driven rotary devices for advancing the letters past the timing-stop to the printing devices I am enabled to dispense with the vertical horizontally-traveling belt that has been heretofore generally necessary for feeding the letters and which has had to pass the printing and impression cylinders. Thus I obviate many of the disagreeable features which result from the employment of such a belt and am enabled to provide for the letters being presented with great accuracy to the printing devices.

An important feature of the machine is the mounting of the impression-cylinder and the idler-rolls, together with one set of grippingdisks and one of the intermediate feed-rollers, upon a spring-held pivoted yoke, so as to coact with the opposite stationarily-mounted parts and at the same time to be bodily movable to permit of the passage of thick letters Without opening the gears.

Another important feature of the invention is the continuous rotation of the impressioncylinder against the printing-cylinder, which is rendered possible by the employment of the ink-non-absorbent or ink-repellent pad on the impression-cylinder to coact with the die on the printing-cylinder, an absorbent roller for removing ink from the pad, and a roller having means for destroying the ink on the absorbent roller, these last-mentioned rollers being mounted on a spring-held yoke, on which the impression-cylinder is j ournaled, whereby they may remain in the same relationship and yet move backward to permit the passage of letters of different thicknesses. By means of this arrangement I am enabled to dispense with such disagreeable or disadvantageous features found in previous ma chines as the intermittent starting and stopping of the printing-cylinder, the intermittent moving of the impression-cylinder toward and from the printing-roll, or the movement of the impression-pad in its cylinder to prevent a deposit of ink when no letters are passing.

Having thus explained the nature of the invention and. described a Way of constructing and using the same, though without attempting to set forth all of the forms in which it may be made or all of the modes of its use, I declare that what I claim is 1. In a mail-marking machine, in combination, a timing-stop, coacting independently and positively driven rotary devices for gripping a letter on both faces and starting it past said stop, and prihting devices supplemental to and operated independently of the rotary gripping devices.

2. In amail-marking machine, in combination, printing devices, a timing-stop,coacting independently and positively driven rotary devices for starting a letter past said stop, and supplemental rotary devices for further advancing said letter to the printing devices.

3. In a mail-marking machine in combination, printing devices, a timing-stop,coacting independently and positively driven rotary devices, supplemental to and operated independently of said printing devices for starting a letter past said stop.

4. In a mail-marking machine, in combination, printing devices, coacting rotary rolls for feeding a letter to said printing devices, a timing-stop, and coacting independently and positively driven rotary devices for starting a letter past the said stop to the feedrolls.

5. In a mail-marking machine,-in combination, a traveling flat conveyer supported and driven by pulleys having their axes horizontal, printing devices above said conveyer, a timing-stop extending over said conveyer, and intermittently-acting oppositely-disposed rotary members actuated positively and independently and rotated continuously in a forward direction for gripping a letter and starting it past said stop, said members each extending partially over the conveyer, whereby they may grip the letteron both faces to advance it.

6. In a mail-marking machine, in combination, printing devices, atiming-stop, coacting independently-actuated rotary devices arranged on both sides of the letter-path for positively gripping and starting a letter past the stop, and additional rotary devices arranged on both sides of said path for advancing said letter to'the printing devices.

7. A mail-marking machine, comprising printing devices, a timing-stop located in the path of theletters, coactin g ind ependently and positively driven rotary devices for starting and advancing a letter, and a vibratile guide for causing the letters to displace the stop at predetermined times.

8. A mailmarking machine, comprising printing devices, a traveling conveyer passing beneath said devices,a timing-stop located above said belt in the path of the letters, and intermittently-acting independently-rotated gripping devices for grasping a letter and forcing it past said stop to the action of the printing devices.

9. A mail-marking machine, comprising coacting printing and impression cylinders, a conveyer or belt traveling transversely of the axes of said cylinder in a plane transverse to the said axes, and underneath their point of contact, means for maintaining a letter upon said belt in planes substantially parallel to said axes of said cylinders, a timing-stop for intercepting the letter, and intermittentlytoo acting positively and independently rotated mechanism for forcing the letter past said stop to the action of the printing and impression cylinders.

10. A mail-marking machine, comprising a table, means for feeding the letters endwise, printing devices located in the path of the letters, a movable stop arranged across the letter-path, vibratile converging levers movable across the letter-path, and feeding-disks having spring-fingers, all arranged to operate at the same instant of time.

11. A mail-marking machine, comprising feeding devices, in combination with a printing-cylinder having a printing-die, an impression-cylinder having an ink-non-absorbent or ink-repellent pad to coact with said die, an absorbent roller for removing ink from said pad, a roller having means for destroying the ink on said absorbent roller, and a pivoted spring-held yoke having bearings to receive the impression-cylinder, the absorbent roller, and the ink-destroying roller.

12. A mail-marking machine comprising a movable timing-stop in the path of the mailpieces, vibratile converging levers acting in conjunction with feeding devices for causing the mail-pieces to displace the stop at predetermined times, a printing-cylinder, an impression-cylinder, one of said cylinders being mounted in stationary bearings and the other being mounted in spring-held movable bearings and adapted to bear continuously against the first except when thrust back by a mailpiece, an ink-non-absorbent or ink-repellent pad in said impression-cylinder and means for removing ink from said pad.

13. A mail-marking machine comprising printing devices in combination with a flexible timing-stop normally in the path of the mail-pieces, and a rotary timing-feed consisting of rotary devices having spring-actuated gripping members for starting a mail-piece past said stop, a yieldingly-mounted idlerwheel, and a gripping-wheel coacting with the said idler-Wheel for further advancing the mail-piece after its release from the aforesaid gripping members, the said gripping-wheel having a portion of its periphery cut away in order to form a corner to grip the mail-piece. I11 testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this 26th day of December, A. D. 1896.

HENRY E. \VAITE. itnesses:

E. BATCHELDER, P. W. PEZZETTI. 

